Who was James Smithson, the benefactor of the Smithsonian Museums
- Warner Smith
- Jun 2
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 6
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum complex. The majority of its museums, galleries, and research centers are all located right here in Washington D.C. The Smithsonian contains an astonishing 157 million artifacts and serves as one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.
Yet few know the story of the man who started it all, James Smithson. The Smithsonian Institution, one of the crown jewels of America’s capital city, was founded and named after James Smithson, a French-born Englishman who never once set foot in the United States.
James Smithson’s Childhood
Originally called James Lewis Macie, James Smithson was born in Paris, France in 1765. He was the son of Hugh Smithson (an English Duke) and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie (a descendant of English King Henry VIII). Smithson was an illegitimate child, which led to lifelong judgement among high society in England. His father passed away in 1786, but due to English customs and laws, Smithson was unable to use his last name until his mother passed away in 1800. Within a month of Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie’s death, James Lewis Macie officially changed his name to James Smithson. Smithson had a half-brother, Henry Louis Dickinson. Smithson and Dickinson shared the same mother. Throughout their lives, both of the brothers amassed sizable fortunes of their own.
Smithson’s Education
Though illegitimately born, he had access to a first class education. James Smithson studied at Pembroke College in Oxford and received a master’s degree in 1786.
Smithson wanted to earn a place within the rapidly growing field of chemistry, and moved to London in the same year, joining scientific organizations and clubs. During his time in college, Smithson traveled to other European nations, including an expedition to Scotland with the French scientist Barthélemy Faujas de St. Fond.
This expedition included many prominent scientists of the time. A record of their findings and research was published in 1797.
Smithson’s Role in the Sciences
In 1787, Smithson was appointed to the Royal Society, Britain’s most revered scientific organization. Smithson was nominated by his close personal friend and colleague, Henry Cavendish, who was most famous for the discovery of hydrogen and his approximations for the density of Earth.
Between 1792-1797, James Smithson traveled throughout Europe to research and collect minerals. In this time, Smithson met and interacted with some of the most brilliant scientific minds of his time. Eventually, Smithson settled in Paris, France, where he wrote the majority of his 27 scientific papers focused on chemistry.
During this time, chemistry was beginning to transition from a philosophical or religious practice into the modern scientific field that we know today. Smithson studied and collected minerals throughout his life, and cataloged them in an expansive personal collection of minerals and journals. Smithson’s papers were published by some of the most prestigious journals of the time, such as the Royal Society of London.
James Smithson’s Death and Will
In 1819, Smithson’s half-brother Henry Louis Dickinson died. When Dickinson passed, he left his estate to Smithson to hold until the time of his own death, so that it could then be passed onto Dickinson’s children.
Within the next decade, Smithson became very sick and traveled to London to write his last will and testament. Smithson, who had remained unmarried and childless throughout his life, left his entire estate to his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, and his future children.
Smithson’s will notably included the fact that Hungerford’s children could either be legitimate or illegitimate to accept their inheritance.
The Smithson Legacy
James Smithson died in Genoa, Italy in 1829. Surprisingly, his nephew, Henry James Hungerford passed away six years later without children. Hungerford was much younger than Smithson, who died at around the age of 64. With astonishing foresight, Smithson had a clause at the end of his will that stated that if his nephew died without children, the estate would be given to the United States of America, “to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”
Congress debated whether or not the federal government could legally accept Smithson’s estate. After some debate, President Andrew Jackson accepted the gift in 1836. Two years later, it was fully delivered to the U.S. mint in Philadelphia with a value of $500,000. In addition to the cash value, Smithson’s personal items including letters, journals and specimens were also sent to the United States.
However, it would take about eight more years before Congress made a decision about what to do with James Smithson’s gift. Although Smithson had donated a rather large sum of money to the United States, there were no exact instructions about how the U.S. should honor his legacy and life with his estate. Congress debated about how they should spend the money gifted to them, and eventually in 1846, the eleventh President of the United States, James K. Polk established the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.
The Smithsonian’s first building, The Castle, opened in 1855. Unfortunately, the Castle burned in 1865, just ten years after its opening. Most of Smithson’s personal collection including his journals, mineral samples, and original copies of his scientific papers were stored in the Smithsonian Castle and were tragically destroyed in the fire. The Smithsonian Castle closed in 2023 to undergo a five year renovation project: the first in the last half-century.
By 1857, the Smithsonian Institution was recognized as the National Museum of the United States. Throughout the next century and a half, the Smithsonian has grown to become the world’s largest museum complex. A collection that began with mineral samples from Smithson himself has grown to include art, scientific objects, Americana, and artifacts from great events worldwide. Today you can visit this historic collection spread across more than 17 museums in the DC area.
If you want to learn more about Smithson, here are a few fun facts about his life and legacy:
Smithson Reburied at the Smithsonian Castle
The Smithsonian eventually relocated Smithson’s body to the US and entombed him at the Smithsonian Castle. When passing through the visitor center, be sure to pay your respects. The man who made the Smithsonian a reality might not have made it to the US during his lifetime but he rests there now.
There were a few prominent people at the reburial ceremony, one of which was Alexander Graham Bell, most famous for inventing the telephone. Bell represented the Smithsonian Board of Regents on the journey when Smithson’s remains were moved from Genoa, Italy to the Smithsonian Castle in 1904. Once Smithson arrived at the Castle, he lay in the Board of Regents room until his new resting place could be completed a year later.
Smithsonite: The stone named after James Smithson
The mineral Smithsonite, a carbonate of zinc, was named after James Smithson posthumously for his work in the field of chemistry. Smithson’s study within the field of chemistry led to new discoveries about the element zinc. In 1832, when this carbonate of zinc was first discovered, it was named after Smithson to honor his life’s work.
The Order of James Smithson
To recognize major donors to the Smithsonian, the Board of Regents established the Order of James Smithson. Since 1984, there have been thirteen donors to the Smithsonian Institute that have been inducted into the Order of James Smithson to celebrate their work and contributions. The most recent addition to the order was Roger Sant, inducted in 2024. Sant has donated approximately 35 million dollars to the Smithsonian Institute, including a large donation that helped fund the Sant Ocean Hall within the National Museum of Natural History that opened in 2008. Other prominent members include Steven F. Udvar Hazy (who donated over 66 million dollars to build a branch of the Air & Space Museum near Dulles International Airport), and Adrienne F. Mars (who has served on the Smithsonian National Board).
Why did James Smithson donate his fortune to the U.S.?
The short answer? Nobody knows!
The most likely theories about why Smithson donated his fortune to the United States of America are:
Smithson was likely resentful of the English class systems that looked down upon him for being an illegitimate child. This was further evidenced in his will when he declared that if his nephew had illegitimate children, then they would be able to accept their inheritance without question. Smithson’s support of illegitimate children can be interpreted as defiance against the rigid class system of England in his era. Smithson’s contribution to fund an intuition in the United States, a country that had recently defeated England in two wars, may have been a way to slight England as punishment for how they treated Smithson during his life?
Since Smithson spent a year in France during the French Revolution, he may have been inspired by the Enlightenment philosophies. that led to the creation of the United States and wanted to give a gift to the new nation. (Additionally, Smithson’s Enlightenment beliefs may have been inspired by his close friends, such as French astronomer Dominique François Arago who was greatly influenced by the revolutions in France.)
Whatever his reasons may be, the United States is indebted to his generosity. Over the years, James Smithson's dream has been kept alive by the countless donors who have believed in the mission and contributed to the "increase and diffusion of knowledge" in the United States.
Time to Explore the Smithsonian Museums
Now that you know more about the man who started the largest museum institution in the world, why not check out a Smithsonian museum? You can see some of the most popular Smithsonian Museums (Air & Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Smithsonian, American History Museum), on Unscripted’s Highlights of the Smithsonian tour!
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